Kakimoto Imari the cute, petite blonde. Kakimoto Imari the tall, tomboyish brunette. They share the same birth month and year, and both came to the accident ward of the same hospital on the same day seeking treatment for similar injuries. This is the story of two women with very different lifestyles whose fates become inexplicably intertwined from the moment they first meet.(mangaupdates.com)

Chapters: 1 volume, 4 chapters

Year: 2011

Scanlation Group: Lililicious

When it comes to yuri romance in manga, the stories are often similar. Two girls meet in school and fall in love. Even though I actually love stories like these, I still sometimes hope to find different stories, something out of the ordinary. Lonely Wolf and Lonely Sheep won’t provide you with a plot you’ve never seen before but it still is different from most “Yuri School Romances” and comes with some surprises as well.

The story revolves around Yamada, a clumsy girl with not much self-esteem and only a few real friends and Kase-san, a student from the class next door, who is an excellent athlete, the star track team member and on top of that, popular all around school. Those two could not be more different from one another, yet once they meet, it is exactly the cool and a boyish aura of Kase-san, that attracts Yamada interest.

Chapters: 1 volume, 5 chapters (so far)

Year: 2010

Scanaltion Group: Yuri Project

As I said in my review of this manga, Asagao to Kase-san is simple and light and that’s exactly what makes it so enjoyable. If you wanna read a cute short story about two girls falling in love, then that’s the perfect choice.

8.

Title: Blue Friend

Author: Eban Fumi

Genre: Drama, School Setting, Angst, Bullying, Possessive female lead

Description:

Second-year middle school student Ayumu Kurihara changes classes and is seated next to the beautiful but strange Misuzu Tsukishima who dislikes boys. Misuzu can’t get close to other people, but after being moved by Ayumu’s sweet, honest personality she begins to open up to her little by little. Ayumu too is captivated by the awkwardly delicate Misuzu and the two of them become close.

V.3 (a.k.a. Second Season)It’s Shimizu Kanako’s first day at an all-girls high school, and she’s a little overwhelmed. Hoping to make new friends, she bumps into the odd and distant Kamei Ao, as well as her first three new friends: Aki, Rikako and Haruna. Of course, not all can be so sweet in the world of girls.

Fumi and Akira were best friends when they were little, with Akira always looking after the crybaby Fumi, but that all ended when Fumi’s family moved away. Several years later, Fumi’s family returned, and she and Akira happened to bump into each other on their way to school. They became friends again, quickly slipping back into old patterns. Shortly after, Fumi began dating a cool, attractive upperclassman who, coincidentally enough, had ties to Akira’s current school, the prestigious Fujigaya Girls’ Academy.(lillilicious.net)

Chapters: 7 Volumes, 47 chapters (Ongoing)

Year: 2004-present

Scanlation Group: Lililicious

Aoi Hana is one of those manga that start off totally boring but get better with every chapter. Personally it took me like 10 chapters to really get into it but from that point on I was addicted.

6.

Title: Kuchibiru Tameiki Sakurairo

Author: Milk Morinaga

Genre: Slice of Life, School Setting, Unrequited Love, Romance, Drama

Description:

Nana and Hitomi have been together for several months now. They kissed, they had sex, but their relationship is still a secret for everybody else. However things may be starting to change… (mangapark.com)

Chapters:Collection of 7 interlinked short stories

Year: 2005

Scanlation Group: Lililicious

If you liked Girl Friends you’ll definitely like these as well. They are cute, light and funny, just what you would expect from Milk Morinaga.

5.

Title: Sasameki Koto

Author: Ikeda Takashi

Genre: School Setting, Slice of Life, Comedy, Drama, Unrequited Love

Description:

Sumika Murasame is deeply in love with her cheerful classmate and friend Ushio Kazama. Ushio is openly lesbian but… she likes cute girls, and Sumika, top student, class representative, black belt in karate, is all but cute. Even worse, Sumika herself is terrified of endangering her friendship with Ushio and chooses to maintain the status quo, as much as it pains her to hide her feelings… (animenewsnetwork.com)

Chapters: 9 volumes, 51 chapters (so far)

Year: 2007-2011

Scanlation Group: Dynasty Scans, MakiMaki Scanlations, Payapaya Scans

When I’m thinking about yuri Manga, Sasameki Koto is the first title that pops up in my mind, it’s like a classic yuri manga, that every fan of the genre should know about.

Nanao is an average high school girl who happens to be in love with the school nurse. Matsumoto is an average school nurse who happens to be in love with her medical assistant Nanao. Hilarity and drama ensues as the two go about their romance surprisingly unbothered by the legal system. They are not the only two to be romantically involved this story. There’s another set of school girls and a gym teacher named Hanada who had a fling with her music teacher back when she went to school. Hilarity and drama follow them as well. (tvtropes.org)

Chapters: 1 Volume, 8 interlinked short stories

Year: 2006

Scanaltion Group: Lililicious

It’s been a while since I read these short stories and I have to be honest, I don’t remember why I love them so much anymore. It’s probably the combination of nice art and an interesting plot that they still remain in this list. If you haven’t heard about Pure Water Adolescent, please check it out, I’m sure these short stories will enchant you just like they enchanted me.

Himoto Sora is a transfer student with a sense of justice and dreams of becoming a knight. Upon arriving at Utopia Gakuen, she learns of a virtual reality-like game played by the male students in which they use girls as weapons in battles for status and treat them as commodities. Seeing one of these girls being abused she steps in and though some sort of error unwittingly becomes the first female participant of the game. (Myanimelist.net)

Chapters: 6 Volumes, 24 chapters

Year: 2009-2011

Scanlation Group:Mako-Scans

Shitsurakuen is the only action Manga in this list but that’s actually not that surprising since most action manga only have some yuri subtext to attract more readers. In this case we don’t only get yuri as one of the main themes, no we also get a female harem for our main heroine Sora. Something like that is kind of rare and very awesome!

Megu, a regular high school girl struggles to get over her first love Hikaru, a boy she met years ago and spent only one single day with, yet the memory of this boy stays captured in her heart for years. Now that some time has passed, Megu is finally beginning to forget about Hikaru, freeing her heart from the feelings for a boy she thinks, she’ll probably never meet again in the first place. But life doesn’t work as easy as that, because just when she decides to not chase after this memory any longer, she encounters Hikaru, a pretty girl that seems to be very familiar.

Chapters: 2 volumes, 6,5 chapters (hiatus)

Year: 2010

Scanlation Group: Futari wa Pretty Anon

Even though the story is not completed yet (and will probably never be completed), you should still give this one a try. I especially recommend this to everyone that is looking for a more realistic lesbian love story.

Mari is a shy, studious girl who has neither a boyfriend nor any friends. One day, Akiko – one of the most fashion-conscious and sociable girls in the class – strikes up a conversation with her out of the blue! As the days go by the two become inseparable, with Akiko often cheerily remarking on how they became best friends so easily. Mari has a lot of fun with Akiko and her group, slowly becoming more outgoing despite still being timid and awkward. But she knows, deep down inside, that she doesn’t want them to stay just friends forever… (mangaupdates.com)

Chapters: 5 Volumes, 35 chapters

Year: 2006-2010

Scanlation Group: MakiMaki Scanlations

You are a Yuri fan and haven’t read Girl Friends yet? Shame on you! Now go read it!

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60 thoughts on “My Top 10 Yuri Manga [Old]”

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No surprise that Girl Friends came at #1, since it is one of, if not, the most highly revered manga in the Nation's existence. Hmm, I'm currently waiting for Aoi Hana and Sasameki Koto to end before making YMC posts on them.

I always have trouble putting things in order of preference.Looks like your favorite yuri manga are pretty popular huh.Like you, I also like school romance, but maybe I'm just tamed. So when I see yuri manga about adult women I feel very relieved that there is lesbian life after high school. So I'll share with you three of my favorite yuri manga without school in it. If you have not read yet, I recommend it.

Cirque Arachne – in a circus – the cute oneOctave – about an ex-idol – the mature oneSweet Guilty Love Bites – in a host club – the sexiest one

Thank you for your recommendations, it's always nice to see what other fans enjoyed.I know all three of them and loved Cirque Arachne and Sweet Guilty Love Bites, the two of them would most likely be in my top 20, especially Sglb. These stories were interesting and fun to read but unfortunately also too short.Octave on the other hand was one of the first yuri manga I've read but I guess the story just felt a little too rushed for me.

Funny thing is, when I first came across Girl Friends I refused to continue reading it because I didn't really enjoy the first chapter that much…But it's like you said before, don't judge too quickly and you are absolutely right with that. It turned out to be great, in fact I like it so much that even before picking out all the other titles in this list, I already knew Girl Friends would be my #1.

Rushed isn't a word I would use to describe Octave. For me, it has a good pacing.Octave was one of my very first yuri manga too. I started reading when I was 16, and I dropped in the middle because it was a little tiring. Then at 19, I restarted and found much better than before. I think you can change your point of view and appreciate something in new ways with a few years between one reading experience and another.And it's good to see that you already know my recommendations. I'm looking forward to your review of them.

I agree with the anon about Octave /o/ you should give it another shot, it's totally worth it.I know most of the recommendations you put out here (8/10) and the ones the anon said (3/3), but i'm surprised not seeing any of the works from Morishima Akiko… i know there's tastes as colors but i'm a bit disapointed not seeing something from her. And yeah, i know Morinaga Milk is a yuri goddess.Anyway, your blog is great. Please keep it up :3 our yuri needs more love.

It's true, it's been some years since I read this and I don't really remember much of this manga anymore. And now that I have two people recommending me to reread it, I guess I'll do it.Maybe you are right and it will feel different now that I'm older, I'll write a review and let you know once I'm done 😉

I actually considered putting Morishima Akiko's “Hanjuku Joshi” in the list. I just read that recently and quite enjoyed it. I would say it's also in my top 20 but the thing with her manga is that I don't like the art that much.I know that all artists have their own way of drawing characters it's just that I don't really like the way she does it, but I think that's just me.

Anyway, thank you for your nice feedback, since I just started this blog a few weeks ago, some nice words feel really good 🙂

Otsu Hiyori is a great artist, she'll definitely be in my Top 10 Yuri One-Shots List. Especially “Maple Love”, that is one of my favorotite if not my favorite One-shot of all time.Since you seem to be a fan of her, you surely already know that one, but if you don't, read it, it's really lovely.

If I am not mistaken, Maple Love is the first manga I've read from Otsu Hiyori and I was drawn to it right away, especially to Kaede's hair (I don't usually see that hairstyle in manga so much, and I thought it was really pretty). I wish she'd write longer stories though.

I'm currently reading Citrus and Notes from the Garden of Lilies (from Yuri Project) right now. I guess yuri in high school settings with complex friendship-or-love confusion are my favorite stories.

You are right, if I remember correctly, the hairstyle of Kaede even changed several times throughout the few pages of the one-shot. It's something really rare in manga.

Citrus and Notes from the Garden of Lilies are both great, I especially love Citrus for its excellent art.If you are a fan high school settings and nice art, let me recommend you a manga.

The first chapter was recently posted by Yuri-Project, but there are already 4 chapters out, that another translation group did.The manga is called “Riko to Haru to Irukawa Onsen to Iruka”. There is still not much yuri going on in this one, but the art is great and the story looks interesting.

Thank you for your recommendation, I will definitely check that out one of these days. I love great art + realistic story lines. By realistic, I mean that the characters become drawn to each other in the right pace for realistic reasons, and the confusion they feel is familiar to most readers.

I love Prism too by the way! I can't believe I missed seeing that on your list the first time I saw this post. I do hope the author comes up with a new chapter… I'm sure readers would want to know how Megumi and Hikaru's relationship progresses.

Adding to this message I can't seem to find Pure Water Adolescent or Citrus anywhere on Amazon. It's quite annoying. If you could link me to a place where I could buy them it would be greatly appreciated.

Unfortunately I can't help you with Citrus, I've been looking for that for a long time now and I just can't get my hands on it.I bought Pure Water Adolescent just a few weeks ago, but I think you won't find something like that in shops like Amazon. I bought it on a Japanese Online Shop and used an online purchasing service to purchase the books, since most Japanese Online Stores just won't ship their stuff overseas.So here's the link to the manga:

Thank you very much for this. Just got it ordered it and can't wait until it arrives. I will also be on the lookout for Citrus because it was a very interesting read.

It's a shame really because I wanted to buy it and add it to my manga collection. Oh well, by the way you have a very nice website 🙂 I will look up some of your other articles later the one on Kannazuki no Miko(神無月の巫女) was good though thanks again 🙂

Shitsurakuen?!? That's an interesting pick. I started reading it a while back and was not interested in it. Though that might be from personal preference. Action+Harem's were the reason I don't read more Het manga.

Glad to see Lonely Wolf Lonely Sheep, Asagao to Kase-san get some love.

Other than that, we've got the solid main picks you'd come to expect, but it was interesting seeing how you rank them

Have you read Ebisu-san and Hotei-san? Husky and Medley? AnaKris's Breakdown?

Lol it might be better to just link over your myanimelist account so everyone isn't just naming every great Yuri that didn't grace your top 10, lol

Haha, so far I haven't completed my manga list there because it would simply take too long. And besides, I like people asking for my opinion 🙂

So I have read Ebisu-san and Hotei-san, but only halfway through and now I wonder why I never finished this…Ah well, Husky and Medley simply doesn't look that nice, which is why I never read it and probably never will. And “Breakdown” is a new title to me. I just googled it and the art already looks nice, can you recommend it?

Ebisu-san and Hotei-san is pretty cool. I'd definitely read it again when you have the choice.

Husky and Medley may not win any art awards, but it has a very fluffy, very fun story. It's also based on a true story, which is surprising because most of the time we hear 'Based on a True Story' it involves lots of tears and heartbreak, but not here!

“Breakdown” is alright. worth a read. Probably not top 10 good, but one of those commonly overlooked titles people seem to forget about.

So what's your opinion on Wife and Wife? It's still not finished yet, but it should be coming to an end soon. Collectors is another series I enjoy a lot, but has yet to come to an end.

Just finished Ebisu-san and Hotei-san and it was pretty good, so thanks for reminding me 🙂

I don't really like Wife and Wife, it's one of those manga I read whenever I don't have anything better to read.And Collectors is yet another one that I stared reading like 2 years ago but stopped after a few chapters and eventually forgot about.

I think I'm actually a person that judges a book by its cover, well in this case only manga and doujinshi. If the art doesn't appeal to me, it's really hard to get into the story and if the art is great, I sometimes don't even care about a crappy story.So maybe Collectors is really great, but I don't like the art very much so it will most likely take me so time to pick it up again.

I get what you mean about artwork. I'm not the same, but I know others who are similar. It can be so frustrating because you know if they'd just give the story a chance they'd enjoy the hell out of it, but the artwork barrier stands in the way.

Oh well, I think we all have our things we value more highly than others. I've been in similar positions where one small little tiny detail drastically affected my enjoyment on a series, probably the best example would be with “A Girl Who Leapt Through Time' which I absolutely hate with a burning passion that cannot be contained. It took me three whole days to finish the movie because I kept rage quitting midway.

i really agree with 1st and 2nd..even prism is in hiatus mode.. 😦for shitsurakuen,,i like the story but not for the end…there are some cute yuri that maybe will come to try :– Aqua Blue Cinema– First Love Sister– Poor Poor Lips (ongoing)– Hoshikawa GinzaI will add just 4 above that sometime i read it again and again…i usually get the yuri news from http://dynasty-scans.com/reader/But just found this blog that have reviews on yuri…thx a lot… ^^

The Dynasty reader is really great even though some releases sometimes take quite a while to show up there, so you should probably check the Scanlation Groups as well 😉

Aqua Blue Cinema was great, but that's to be expected from Otsu Hiyori.I'm not reading Poor Poor Lips simply because I didn't like the first chapter, but if you can recommend it, I guess I'll pick it up again or at least read the next few chapters.First Love Sisters was a quite good read, nothing that special but definitely very pleasant.

And Hoshikawa Ginza is the only one I still haven't stared reading and I honestly don't know whether I'm even going to read this at all, but let's see about that.

Oh and you're absolutely right about Shitsurakuen's ending, it was really horrible which is why I pretend it was never finished and ended after chapter 22… I've just started writing a review about this manga as well, so hopefully I'll be done with this by tomorrow 😉

So, I read sasameki koto. Overall a really nice story, but what happen in the end? Do they just break up and go on their own? D:

Anyway, it was really nice and the frustration of friendzone issue lol. But I think up to vol 5? I think, the story got weird. I feel like the author doesn't focus on the main couple anymore, I don't even understand what the hell is happening since it was just so random. Kazama's character's change is huge. There was little explanation on that and it just feels like she is a completely different person. I didn't like. I didn't like it how the author go on and on other other random stuff, and doesn't focus on Kazama and Sumi…=.=.

It's not just Sasameki Koto, Aoi Hana was also quite disappointing in the end. And that's just such a pity, since I loved them both so much…

And I also made the mistake to add both of them to my list, even though they weren't finished at that time. Big mistake, I think especially Aoi Hana doesn't really deserve to be listed in here anymore. Well I guess I'll have to update it at some point.

I have just bought the traditional chinese verson of Girl Friends (via the internet and is quite expensive for me (⊙o⊙) ), and I just fell in love with that. Well it seems that the painting style of Morinaga is so monotonic(single?) that when I watched a still-image MAD which mentioned Kuchibiru Tameiki Sakurairo I thought that was Girl Friends(oh..).Undoubtedly Sasameki Koto is my favorite Yuri animate, and I'm watching it slowly because I don't wanna miss any beautiful movement. Whatever BGM, OP, ED, they are all so pleasant to listen to. As far as I know the last episode of the animate only reaches the second volume of manga. Whereas that I plan to buy all the Sasameki Koto manga(of course chinese verson :-D)…….There're some realistical yuri manga such as オクターヴ(Okuta-vu? or Okuta-va? anyway in chinese 变调的旋律 or 八度和音, means Perfect Eighth), in reading which you feel that is a real world….. I've read some reviews that GF is so dreamy that when we read it we'd always suppose what if it were set in a real world, but Okuta-va doesn't.(Anyway I've NOT finish reading GF, Sasameki Koto, Okuta-va yet, please don't make too much spoiler. ^_~)

Oh I know what you mean, many of Milk Morinaga's characters resemble Mari and Akko quite a bit, especially the ones of “Kuchibiru Tameiki Sakurairo” and even when I read other manga by her, her way of drawing the characters always reminds me of those two again.And the manga you mean should be “Octave” (http://myanimelist.net/manga/10846/Octave)What you said is true, it feels way more realistic than Girlfriends for example, but the art style plays a big role in that as well.So you have this one translated into Chinese as well? You sure have a lot of great yuri manga over there! I'm jealous, we only have a few 😉

nice recommendation. actually im looking for anime yuri and i change for reading manga for awhile because its limited if anime. i read and watch sasameki koto and also love it. if in manga i resently read girl friends, shitsuraken and lonely wolf lonely sheep and they all good specially girl friend. 🙂

I downloaded many manga today from mangatraders, dynasty scans, and lililicious. if i read good and interesting, i recomended it to you guys

Hmm. Not really. I love yuri so I started watching some anime first before reading some manga.

I resently read blue friend and it was a nice story. I love the characters although its quite short for me because I thought they are so many posibilities that may happen in booth protagonies. I'm starting reading right now are octave and prism. I hope I enjoy reading this two manga.

Whould you please recomend me some yuri manga that has good story line and like a love triangle story. If you dont mind. 🙂

If you just want some good manga, try “The Flower and the Star”, “Notes from the Garden of Lilies” or “Citrus” (by Saburouta).Though I'll warn you, despite the fact that I love Citrus, it doesn't have that great of a story line, but gorgeous art and characters.

Also I make recommendation lists, every now and then. Just click on “Recommendations” under the header 😉

Haha. Not really. It was just my past tym. Im just resting from watching anime. 😛

Im reading octave and pure water adolescence today. I hope I will like it. I resently downloaded some yuri manga. And I finish reading one titled Hen. Its good but it is also bad. Haha. I dont know how to write comments about this one. Im just browsing in mangataders and downloaded it.

Hey, what is your top 11-20 yuri manga? Maybe I can get some things from that. 🙂

Damn!! I just finished reading octave and its so so good. Its much more closer to the reality. I hope I can find something similar to this manga and if i find some I'll recommend it to you. I cant get over to this manga. >///<

I'm glad you enjoyed Ocatve, I've already read it a while ago, but should probably re-read it and write a review about it as well.

Hm well my Top 11-20 manga… that's pretty hard to tell.I liked Octave as well as Gokujou Drops and Kimi Koi Limit, also there's A Divine Love Alone, Dandelion Among Lilies, Citrus, Comprehensive Tovarish, Renai Manga and Riko to Haru to just name some good recent ones.

But I'm more of a doujin reader, so what I can recommend you even more than any of the manga I listed in my Top 10 list, would be Vivit Gray's doujin compilation “Flower Bouquet and Prism”.

Actually anything by Vivit Gray is great, so maybe you'll also come to like some douijnshi in the future 😉